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Canned_Pug-Ng0EYk
Canned_Pug-Ng0EYk
Participating Frequently
March 31, 2011
Question

Viewing "Actual Size"

  • March 31, 2011
  • 3 replies
  • 57896 views

HI,

I've always wondered why, if I set the screen view to "Actual Size" or even 100%, that if measured against a ruler put up to the monitor, it does not correspond. Is there a view or setting that can do this without me zooming in or zooming out and measureing with a ruler every time? (I'm feeling this might be so simple I'm going to once again be embarrassed....

Thanks.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    3 replies

    davidblatner
    Community Expert
    davidblatnerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 6, 2011

    Great thread! We discussed this in podcast 4, many moons ago, and included a one line script from Dave Saunders:  http://indesignsecrets.com/indesignsecrets-004.php

    John Hawkinson
    John Hawkinson
    Inspiring
    April 6, 2011

    There's some funny irony with us posting the long scripts verbatim and Dave's 1-line script being inside a .zip file. Here it is for comparison:

    try {app.layoutWindows[0].zoomPercentage = 140 } catch (e) {};

    Of course it's short since it doesn't do any math and hardcodes to 140%.

    davidblatner
    Community Expert
    davidblatnerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 6, 2011

    That is funny. (technically the reason we used zip was to force download of the jsx file.)  It's so much easier to hold a ruler to the screen and figure the proper resolution than to do the math.

    A
    Anonymous
    March 31, 2011

    Zoom something of a known width and measure it with a ruler until you get true 100%

    Make note of the zoom amount (131% for my setup)

    Open a text file and add this code:

    try {app.layoutWindows[0].zoomPercentage = 131 } catch (e) {};

    Save as Zoom131.jsx (or whatever name.jsx) into your scripts folder

    Edit keyboard shortcuts to set Ctrl-1 to run your script (if you want 131% instead of 100%)

    Duplicate/edit/rename script for 200%, 50% etc and add shortcuts if desired...

    A
    Anonymous
    March 31, 2011

    This has been discussed several times in the forum. You might search for one of those threads.


    Canned_Pug-Ng0EYk
    Canned_Pug-Ng0EYkAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    March 31, 2011

    i did try "viewing size' and "actual view" with 0 results not sure

    what else to ask...will look further

    rob day
    Community Expert
    rob dayCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 2, 2011

    Your formula works -- except that I measure my 23" iMac screen at 20" wide. But this leaves me with a question: what exactly is this magic number 72?

    Years ago, I read that native screen resolution was 72 ppi for the Mac, and 96 ppi for Windows. I never really thought about it, but it didn't seem to match my monitors and at the time I was using the same (non Apple) monitors on both PC and Mac. And now with my iMac 1920/20" is 96 ppi.

    Your formula which divides actual monitor resolution by 72 indicates that there is an adjustment for what the application expects the monitor to display. But is this inherent to InDesign (and by extension all applications) or inherent to the OS (as per my old recollections)?

    If I make a new document in Photoshop at 96 ppi, it displays acutal size at 100%. I'm left wondering why InDesign (and others) don't have a preference pane that allows to adjust the screen resolution.


    But this leaves me with a question: what exactly is this magic number 72?

    The first Macs had builtin screens with a res of 72ppi—the mac plus 9", 512×342. When monitors became seperate items driven by third party graphics boards, the screen res became variable.

    If you are designing a GUI for InDesign that shows rulers you have to settle on how many pixels there are in an inch when the zoom level is at 100%. In InDesign it's 72 pixels, in Photoshop it's the image's ppi. The size of the displayed pixels changes depending on the monitor capabilities—if you could find a screen running at 72ppi, ID's 100% zoom would show ruler inches measuring exactly an inch.

    Dividing by 72 gives you the ratio that compensates for the actual screen ppi and the assumed 72ppi.

    In case you thought there would never be a practical use for your long forgotten high school algebra, Marijan's javascipt channels Pythagoras to get the actual screen res, where your screen's diagonal is the hypotenuse.

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